An apology for Mexican Hobo Stew, via Carnitas.

The other night I was rummaging through the refrigerator looking for something to cook. I came up with turnips, chipotles, pork drippings, sausage, onions, green chili peppers, and cilantro. While independent of each other these ingredients are delicious, combined they make a very strange kind of hobo stew. As an apology for having thrown something together like that, I have for you my recipe for carnitas.

What you need, based on a 3# pork roast; though carnitas are usually made with a much larger roasts 6-10#

-crockpot
-jelly roll pan or roaster pan
-3# pork roast; boston butt, picnic roast, etc.
-1 medium white onion, chopped
-1 bay leaf
-2 tsp. ground cumin
-2 tsp. ground coriander
-1 tsp. dried oregano
-2 cups water

I prefer to toast and grind my own cumin and coriander. If you have a mortar and pestle, you can too. Place the cumin and coriander in a dry skillet and toast over high heat until the spices start to smell fragrant and smoke a little bit. Transfer the spices to the mortar and grind them to medium fine with the pestle. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, you can use a spice grinder, a coffee grinder (don't use it for coffee afterward!), or you can just buy pre-ground spices off the rack.

Combine ingredients in crockpot set to "high" and leave to cook overnight. You may need to get up during the night and turn the roast over once. It depends on whether your crockpot is the roaster-pan type or the soup-pot type. In the morning, lift the roast out of the crockpot and transfer to a jelly roll pan or baking dish large enough to spread the soon-to-be-shredded roast out on. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. While the oven heats up, shred the roast and spread it out evenly in the pan.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 15-30 minutes. How long you bake it will determine how crispy the meat gets. Your personal tastes will determine doneness.

Eat! Carnitas are usually served as a plate or in tacos with pico de gallo-- a rough dice of equal parts white onion & tomato with a few jalapenos, cilantro, and lime juice-- red or green salsa, pickled carrots or radishes, guacamole, and lime.